


when spring comes

by onhojongtaekey



Category: SHINee
Genre: Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, its just, jongtae - Freeform, vent fic lmao, yeah.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 06:22:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15504219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onhojongtaekey/pseuds/onhojongtaekey
Summary: don't worry about what to do, i'm alright. spring will come to me, too.





	when spring comes

**Author's Note:**

> cw for: mentions of irregular sleep, mentions of drinking, light discussion of mental health

“Give me anything.” He looked disheveled, white shirt tucked partially into almost-too-loose jeans held up by a belt, chestnut colored hair up in every direction. Most noticeable to the other male, though, was the foggy look in his eyes, from however many lost nights of sleep.

“You know, Min, you can’t drink your problems away.” Regardless, the pretty black haired boy mixed up a drink, sliding it over to the patron on the other side of the counter.

“And yet you indulge in me.” He took a swift swig of the concoction in the glass, swirling the bitter taste around his tongue before swallowing harshly around the unwelcoming flavor. It was a day worth forgetting about, as most of them were.

Jonghyun shrugged. “You pay well.”

Taemin scoffed at the coldness of the words, at how they contrasted the otherwise warm personality of the boy he’d grown so fond of. “So I’m just a paycheck to you?”

“What’s the problem tonight? You haven’t come here this bent out of shape in a few weeks.”

“When do you,” Taemin started, taking another gulp of his drink before continuing again, “when do you finish up tonight?”

Jonghyun sighed in response before answering. “Hang around for an hour. I’ll take you home.”

“I don’t need you to.”

“Yes you do. You always do, so give me an hour.”

Taemin knew better than to protest to begin with, but this minimal conversation with the older was making his day and frankly, it had been a shitty day.

“Why not now? If you’re gonna get off early anyways to take me home then why not now?”

“Would you like that Taemin?” Jonghyun asked, making it evident in his tone that he had no intentions of doing so regardless of what the older requested.

“Does it matter?”

“That’s what I thought,” Jonghyun mumbled, “just be patient.”

And so time started passing. More patrons coming to fill the empty seats and Taemin sat there idly, scrolling through nothing on his phone, ordering another couple of drinks before Jonghyun stopped him because ‘I’m not taking you home drunk again, you’re a shitty drunk’ and before Taemin could speak up again about how slowly time was elapsing, an hour had passed. Jonghyun clocked out and walked out from behind the counter, knowing Taemin was following behind him.

“Did you walk here?” And Jonghyun intentionally leaves out the word ‘again,’ not wanting to make it seem, more than he already unintentionally has, that the younger was bothering him with his presence.

“Why would I do that?”

“Because it’s you. And when you come here it’s for a couple of drinks and a ride to mine.” He still has yet to turn around and face the younger while they’re conversing, or to at least walk side by side, creating an unnecessary wall between their communication.

“And what if I did?”

Translation: I did. But the emptiness in his voice strikes a chord in Jonghyun, bothers him to his core at how Taemin was being this way for no reason until he realizes he’s exhibited this same coldness all night.

Jonghyun stops as he gets outside the door of the club, Taemin almost bumping into his backside from the abruptness of his actions. Jonghyun walks behind Taemin and grabs him from his waist, none too aggressively but not ceremoniously either, and backs them up onto the wall of the dimly lit building. He turns Taemin around, so that they’re face to face, and begins talking.

“You got me on a bad night, okay?” Jonghyun states, and Taemin knows it means he’s apologizing, knows it means he should apologize too but he hasn’t even gotten to start talking about the hell he went through just hours prior and what good is an apology now if another one needs to be made after venting anyway? Despite himself, he mumbles out an ‘I’m sorry, too,’ before letting himself be led by hand to the older’s car.

“You can tell me about it on the way home or when we get there, I don’t mind.” Jonghyun starts up the car and takes the familiar route.

“What about you?” Taemin’s voice is tired as he asks, weighed down with exhaustion but no less sincere.

“Just a rough night at the bar. A couple of fights that had to be broken up,” Jonghyun pauses before a light chuckle escapes his lips, “it’s not easy when each of the guys has at  least four inches on me.”

Taemin hums in response. He knows there’s more, but he also knows Jonghyun. Despite Taemin usually being the one with the issues that  _ always  _ needed tending to, because he  _ always  _ needed to rid himself of a feeling the moment he felt it, he couldn’t help but extend this same caring nature, to always ask, and then to always ask again, to the boy who had been tending to him for all these years. It was almost selfish to not do the same, but he knew Jonghyun. He knew that Jonghyun would hold out on telling anyone else his worst troubles for as long as he could. He knew Jonghyun would tell him, and him only, when he was almost filled to the brim with stories to tell about the inconveniences daily life brings. He knew this would come only after making sure that Taemin himself was tended to, and even that belief is riddled with uncertainties. So Taemin doesn’t push, instead offering a slight ‘I’m here,’ before the two drift into a familiar, comfortable silence again. 

Upon arriving to Jonghyun’s place, Taemin stumbles slightly out of the car, waving off Jonghyun’s comments about him being a lightweight because  _ dammit  _ he was stumbling because he hadn’t slept well in a week, not because he had two shots too many of whatever Jonghyun served him.

“Do you want some help baby?” Jonghyun pouts at him, and the tone is sarcastic, but Jonghyun is already making his way over to the younger, looping their arms around each other as they walk up the steps and Jonghyun unlocks the door, guiding them in and tossing his keys on the counter.

“Alright, stay here,” Jonghyun offers, lying Taemin down on the sofa and  _ completely  _ babying him by this point, and it’s not like Taemin is dying. He’s just  _ tired _ .

“I wasn’t planning on leaving,” the younger replies, taking the blanket and wrapping himself in it. Jonghyun’s place felt like more of a home than his own, a thirty minute nap on the sofa energizing him more than a twelve hour slumber in his own bed.

Jonghyun’s about to make a sarcastic remark before he looks, really looks, at the boy before him. The heavily set shadows from however many nights of lost sleep contrasting with the drained tone of his skin halted Jonghyun’s words immediately. He felt bad, to say the least, like his own world was going to crumble at the sight no matter the familiarity. Sighing, he made a quick trip to and from his room, returning in pajamas with a pair of sweatpants and a couple of pillows.

“Taem,” he said softly against the boy’s ear, “Taem I know you’re tired but you’re gonna wake up in your jeans uncomfortable as shit. Change into these.”

“Mmdontwanna,” Taemin mumbled, “you do it. Pleaseee.” And it’s as though Taemin had no worries in the world, now that he was getting some much needed rest.

Jonghyun sighed, mentally kicking himself for holding back on that golden sarcastic comment he had lined up from earlier. Shifting the blanket off the slender body, he removed the belt and jeans sported by the younger, replacing them with only  _ slightly  _ too-small sweatpants.

He crawled onto the sofa-bed next to Taemin, slotting himself between the welcoming arms and pressing his front to Taemin’s, his small frame fitting perfectly against the larger one. Jonghyun rolled the two over so that he was on top, peering down at Taemin and effectively waking him from his half asleep state.

“Yes Jjong?” Taemin mumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes that were already severely lacking it.

“What’s wrong? You came in tonight looking like you hadn’t slept in weeks. Is everything okay?”

“ _ That’s  _ what’s wrong, Jonghyun. I’m  _ tired _ .”

“Okay.” Was all Jonghyun had to say. He knew this tone. It meant ‘leave me alone. I’ll talk about it later.’ He got up from Taemin for not even a second before the younger pulled him back down on top of him, shifting so they were face to face once more.

“I didn’t mean for it to come out like. You know. That,” Taemin started, referring to the tone of his voice, “I’m sorry,” he sighed.

“I get it,” Jonghyun replied simply. It was a hard day for the both of them.

“It’s just. Work. You know?” Taemin’s job as a dance instructor was not the best paying in the world, but it was something he loved. “And it’s driving me up a goddamn wall Jjong. It’s not even just work it’s. It’s  _ everything _ . How are they suddenly opting to overwork the hell out of me and simultaneously give me nothing to live off of? How do they praise me and say I’m the  _ best  _ instructor in the whole damn studio and then provide me with the most bare minimum check in the world? I lose sleep and literally can’t even afford to tell them off over it.”

This was less of a vent asking for advice, Jonghyun acknowledged, and more of one to just let the pent up feelings of however many days loose.

“I’m sorry Taeminnie,” Jonghyun said. Really, it was all he could say. There was nothing more he could offer. Sleepless nights had become second nature to him, and it pained him to know this most precious boy in front of him had recently taken up the task of enduring the same struggle.

“It’s just. I don’t know,” Taemin sighed out frustratedly, “I just want some rest.”

“Let’s sleep then, okay?” Jonghyun pulled Taemin in to him, leeching off his warmth while providing the boy with his own. They brought each other closer under a familiar mess of tangled limbs, seeking comfort in the closeness.

“What else happened today Jjong?” Taemin questioned the smaller, voice thick with sleep and concern. “Aside from the fights you had to break up.”

“Just the usual, I guess,” Jonghyun replied.

And Taemin knew what that meant. Knew it meant it was a difficult day mentally, knew Jonghyun would rather not talk about it, not in this moment where they’re both comfortable and content just by being in the presence of the other. Come morning, like usual, they’d actually talk. So like usual, Taemin didn’t press.

But Jonghyun continued.

“It’s felt like winter for a really long time Taem.” His voice had a tinge of defeat seeping through the otherwise steady tone.

And Taemin held him closer, buried Jonghyun’s head into his chest, placing his chin on top. So it was a really difficult day.

“Jonghyun-hyung,” Taemin started, “put yourself first here. Don’t worry about my sleep and shit job, tell me what’s wrong.”

“You know I can’t.”

It wasn’t Jonghyun being difficult, it was just  _ that  _ kind of a day. Something was wrong and he didn’t know what, so he didn’t know how to explain. Taemin held back a sigh; it wasn’t one indicating annoyance or exasperation, just sorrow, really, but he knew better than to worry the older with the thought that his misery bred company.

“Let’s sleep, Jjong,” Taemin said, smoothing the boy’s hair down, “let’s sleep.”

Several moments of heavy silence passed before Taemin spoke again, now to an almost asleep lump of Jonghyun.

“Jjong.”

“Mmm?”

“Spring will come to you, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> today was bad so i produced this :] thanks for reading


End file.
